Beast Boxing 3D Review: Nothing We Haven’t Seen Before

Fighting and boxing games aren’t new in the App Store: we’ve seen the likes of Touch K.O. and Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior for starts, along with Capcom’s popular Street Fight IV. Boxing games aren’t too sparse in the App Store either, as Glu’s Super K.O. Boxing is adequate enough for any average gamer (especially if you picked it up for free).

But Beast Boxing 3D vows to bring a new approach to the boxing ring, with swipe and touch controls similar to that of Touch K.O., and a camera angle and gameplay experience similar to that of Super K.O. Boxing. Mixing those two fighting games together, Beast Boxing includes monsters and beasts of all shapes and sizes fighting against your character; all of this entertainment rendered in beautiful, cartoony graphics.

And while it does provide a somewhat different approach in terms of theme, everything else seems to be more or less the same. With only a career mode to keep you going, content doesn’t seem to be on the extensive side. The controls feel a bit sluggish, the UI needs some improvements, and the gameplay needs to add some more overall depth.

Side hooks and upper cuts aside, as a game, Beast Boxing leaves a lot to desire.

Likes

Graphics: The character rendering is absolutely amazing, and it literally makes my eyes burn from the amount of detail packed into one character. While the backgrounds and environments could use a little bit of touch-up, the character models are quite impressive.

Character variety: You must be a strategist on every single character, as each character brings something new to the table. Fighting the parrot-looking creature was quite a breeze once I figured out how to beat it (*SPOILER ALERT* dodging by tilting back and forth continuously, jabbing at the bird while moving past its body). Other creatures such as the one-eyed monster are much more difficult to beat and require a lot more blocking and less dodging. While many casual gamers may or may not enjoy the strategic nature of this fighting game, I for one am pleasantly surprised by the amount of variety packed into nine characters.

Dislikes

Musical score: The music does start to get annoying after a while, and although I usually never pay attention to background music and such, the repetitive nature of Beast Boxing’s beats were quite noticeable.

Control response time: The controls are in need of some improvement in terms of responsiveness, as it’s taking my device some time for it to register my swipes and jabs. Swiping to execute a side hook doesn’t always work, and there are times in which my character gets beat up because the controls decided not to respond to my touches. While it’s workable, there’s definitely a noticeable amount of hang time.

Content: With only one game mode, you’ll be hard-pressed to play this game again once you beat the career mode. While the career mode will last you around three to four hours, it’s not enough in this day and age, an age in which quantity never reflects the price.

Depth: Swipe, jab, upper cut. There’s nothing really else to the gameplay: no special combos, no heart-busting body jabs… a combo list similar to that of fighting games such as Street Fighter IV would be nice; a jab + side hook = something amazingly awesome. Right now, I’m having trouble coming back to the shallow nature of Beast Boxing.

Nothing really new: Aside from the beastly—both literally and figuratively speaking—character models and variety, Beast Boxing brings absolutely nothing new to the table. A lackluster and shallow career mode followed by a simple and uninspiring upgrade system really doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

Beast Boxing 3D is a game that looks the part but needs a little bit of help in acting it. The graphics are great, the character variety is great, and for the first couple of hours, it’s a bunch of fun. But once you start to get frustrated, thwarted, and far into the career mode, your appeal to the game just doesn’t last. It’s a game with potential, but it needs some substantial updates to reach it.

Beast Boxing 3D was developed by Goodhustle Studios, and I played through version 1.0 on my iPhone 4. The price is $2.99.

About Daniel

I have been an iPhone game addict ever since the NES emulator came out on the 1.1.4 iPhone 2G. After 2.0 and the App Store came out, my iPhone homescreen has never been the same. Other than writing reviews for App Store games, I play soccer/football, American football, volleyball, and golf. I love going to the beach and fishing on the pier. Some games not available on iPhone/iPod Touch that I truly love are the Call of Duty series, Guitar Hero III, Madden NFL 09, and PGR: Gotham Racing.
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